Russia Agrees Loan for Serbian Railways

Ministers from Belgrade and Moscow have signed a deal on a 600 million euro Russian export loan to finance rail infrastructure in Serbia.

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Belgrade

The Serbian and Russian finance ministers, Mladjan Dinkic and Anton Siluanov, have signed a deal in Moscow on a government loan for Serbia's state-owned railway company.

The contract, signed at the weekend, envisions using the money to build and electrify a second 16-kilometre section of the Belgrade-Pancevo railway and construct a single-track 68-kilometre line linking Valjevo and Loznica in western Serbia.

The loan will also help underwrite the cost of rebuilding six sections of the pan-European "Corridor 10", modernise the railway from Belgrade to Bar in Montenegro and purchase Russian-made diesel trains.

The Corridor 10 road transport artery stretches from Salzburg in Austria to Thessaloniki in northern Greece.

After the signing ceremony, Dinkic said the deal was "very important" for Serbia's infrastructure because the most important international rail routes would be restored.